User reviews

Other reviewers have covered it well, just letting those who were trying to hunt it down on DVD know that it's available now on Netflix Instant. Well worth the time to watch. It portrays both sides in an equally dismal light. As such, one of the more compelling stories with the troubles as its backdrop. Some of the great Irish actors appear in it, such as Niall Tobín, Ray McAnally and Joe Lynch. The Richard Gere-type American lead is all rage and not a lot of nuance, but can be forgiven. The cynical and dehumanizing way the Anerican pawn is manipulated makes for compelling viewing. It also contains some very daring lines about the role of the church, and accurately foretells its fate in the absence of a common enemy. Some earlier reviewers worried about the level of violence. It would be impossible to set a movie in Belfast in 1973 without losing all credibility, a mistake this movie avoids. I didn't find any scene gratuitous, and the integrity of the movie is the better for it. I would agree with others who have described this as a lost gem.

This is one of the better films on the IRA struggle I have ever seen, despite its age. You also get what looks like a film shot on location in Belfast from the 70's, which surprised me in that it looked like a warzone. Other later films on the subject cannot quite capture the setting as this film does wonderfully. The plot is complex, the acting is good, and it is pretty intense, and overall very well done. For anyone that likes the IRA subject matter it is definitely worth seeing, and one of the best films on that subject that is for unknown reasons, not well-watched.

Years ago I was hanging out with friends at my house. Out of boredom, we turned on the TV to our one cable channel (I told you it was years ago!) and saw this movie. The story caught our interest. Craig Wasson plays a Vietnam veteran who goes to Northern Ireland and joins the IRA. Seems that his uncle Seamus (Sterling Hayden) told stories of about how he fought heroically for the IRA in the old days. Craig was disillusioned by his experience in Vietnam, and decides to redeem himself by fighting for a cause where the good guys (the IRA) are obviously in the right and the bad guys (the British) are obviously in the wrong. But when he gets to Northern Ireland, he finds more moral murkiness and disillusionment. The decades of warfare have made everybody either crazy, cynical, devoid of hope, or some combination of these. In over his head, he winds up being a pawn in a deadly game between the IRA and British Army. We were all amazed at what a *great* movie it was. Will it ever get released on DVD?

This movie has haunted me since I saw it in the mid-1980s. It is one of the very best movies I have ever seen. I have searched in vain for a videotape (later DVD!) since without avail.

This movie is without peer in depicting the Troubles and in its exploration of loyalty and betrayal. It contains one of Sterling Hayden's last performances and, to say the least, he does not disappoint. Craig Wasson offers the best performance of his career in this film. Patricia Quinn demonstrates her capacity for a dramatic role (in sharp contrast to her performance in "Rocky Horror").

Northern Irish partisans of either stripe should be both warned and reassured: the movie is scrupulously even-handed and neither side is portrayed in a flattering light. Rather, it makes the point that the conflict has degenerated into a corrupt exercise in hatred, blood lust, and revenge.

This movie is stark and raw suspense, disillusionment, and heartbreak. I would happily pay $100 for a used VHS of this film.

I saw this movie with my parents when I was only 10. It is not an appropriate film to take a child to, as there is a graphic torture scene and a lot of violence. However, I did not have any lasting trauma, and I thought the film was incredible. Very realistic, good acting, cynical story line that looked at multiple sides of the issue of the Troubles. The movie did not paint either the IRA or the British government in a positive light. I thought the violence in the film, though graphic, was necessary to show the brutality of the situation. This was one of the most memorable movies I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find it on DVD. I would love to see it again as an adult.

I watch about one movie a week. When somebody asks me what was the best movie I have ever seen, I respond that it is this one. I haven't seen it for decades. The internet is new. I'm looking for a copy.

The movie shows that there are no moral men anywhere. Even the twisted morals of bloodthirsty killers are subject to easy compromise. People in a fanatic rage quickly change their minds and turn on their own kind when it is expedient to do so.

I suppose the outward themes of the movie would be "don't get involved" and "don't rat on your friends." That being said; strangely enough, this film is heart wrenching.

Years ago I visited NY, noticed this film and despite a pan by the NY Times, saw it since I'd been impressed by Craig Wasson in Go Tell the Spartans (still the best fiction film on Vietnam). Loved it: excellent story that avoids clichés, very well acted and directed. Came off a bit as The Further Adventures of the Craig Wasson Character Who Had Been in Nam. Disillusioned Nam vet wants purpose in life, goes to ancestral home Ireland, gets more disillusioned at being used by both IRA and Brits for their own, different purposes. Even becomes disillusioned with grandfather, whose screwed up memories of IRA glory persuaded him to go there. Maybe my memory of details is inaccurate (saw it once when it opened), but the final scene stays with me still: Wasson in a phone booth in Detroit, hitting the receiver on the phone box in frustration. Hope it comes out in DVD. If so, I'd order it in an instant.

I happened to be in NYC when this was released. Read no reviews of it, but having recently seen Craig Wasson in Go Tell the Spartans (still the best fiction movie about Vietnam) and having admired Frank Grimes since I saw him as the lead in The Playboy of the Western World in Dublin years earlier, I decided to go. And was glad I did. This movie is a gem. Its disappearance after that initial showing in NYC (and probably other metro centers in the US) baffles me. Even more baffling is its non-resurrection in DVD. The Wasson character sort of made the film a sequel to Go Tell the Spartans. The story (which I won't spoil by telling the plot), about both IRA-ers and Brits using the American for their political ends was great, as were the acting and directing. Still vivid in my memory is the emotional ending with Wasson in a phone booth in Detroit. I keep searching for its release on DVD, with no luck.

The young Vietnam War veteran Michael Flaherty, from Detroit, (Craig Wasson) joins the IRA because his Irish grandfather fought for the cause and he has told Michael so many stories of his, and Michael wants to be just like him. After working briefly at the border, Michael's wish is granted- he is sent to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where all you can see is ruins and riots. All the while, Michael is not aware that he has been considered as an outsider and that he has been manipulated. To the IRA, he is nothing but a pawn for their 'public relations'. When Michael realises the brutal truth, he is utterly disillusioned. He only becomes further disillusioned when he has returned to America and his ill grandfather confesses to him yet another harsh truth...

I have been to Belfast, though not in the 1970s, but from what I've read and what I've seen, I can say this film vividly depicts the city of Belfast in the early 1970s, the peak of the Troubles. And not all of them fought for the cause. Some of them were indeed downright terrorists (again, I must reiterate, not ALL of them). The movie also portrays the cunning nature of the British Troops. The ending is a very clever one. I think I should track down the novel.

But it ended a lot earlier than the novel. In the book, Emmett chases Flaherty back to the U.S. and the pair of them end up at the Shepherd's Mass, a Feast of the Assumption event that takes place every year in the mountains of northern Wyoming. Back to the movie: I've tried to find it in video stores and nobody even has it listed. Where can I get a copy?